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The industry leader in emerging technology researchThu, 24 May 2018 17:25:15 +0000en-UShourly1How Apple users have honored Stevehttp://gigaom.com/2011/10/06/how-apple-users-honored-steve/
http://gigaom.com/2011/10/06/how-apple-users-honored-steve/#commentsThu, 06 Oct 2011 13:45:37 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=416658News of Steve Jobs’ death on Wednesday was greeted with an outpouring of emotion by Apple (s aapl) fans and followers around the world in the form of moving tributes and memorials. We’ll see many more throughout Thursday and beyond, no doubt, but we wanted to take a moment to highlight a few of those gestures.

Apple Stores draw crowds

Around the world, Apple Retail storefronts attracted many mourners and countless memorials in the form of flowers, scrawled messages and Post-it Notes. The little squares of paper quickly covered the windows at the Stockton Apple Store in San Francisco. In Boston, at the Apple Store on Boylston Street, fans and admirers gathered and left flowers and photos outside the storefront. According to the Boston Globe, one mourner, Brad Lackey, despite having never owned a single Apple product, called Jobs “[his] generation’s Edison.”

The Apple Store in Ginza, Tokyo, became a makeshift memorial when the news hit the nearby Ceatec conference, which is Japan’s largest consumer electronics show. Fans left flowers outside the store and organized a candlelight vigil there for after dark. The Fifth Avenue store in New York City was nearly covered in fliers featuring the image of Jobs with messages inscribed upon them by mourners. Apple Stores in Brazil, Australia and many other countries around the world were host to similar tributes.

Artists, designers and developers remember

Macs have always been tools of inspiration, so it’s no surprise that the creative community has already paid a lot of tribute to Jobs. Comic artist Randall Munroe at xkcd shared this fitting memorial:

Mac developers Panic talked about how Jobs has given direction to their lives in a splash page on their site, which I think sums up the feelings of most of us who work in the shadow of Apple. This, in particular strikes a chord:

Apple went from a marginal novelty to rewriting the rules of entire industries, in the blink of an i.

Last but not least, there’s an image that’s been making the rounds almost as long as the news of Jobs’ death itself. Created by Jonathan Mak Long, a 19-year-old Hong Kong resident and designer, it seems to be acting as a touchstone for what many are feeling. So we’ll leave you with Long’s stunning, stark tribute as we get back to the business of watching and wondering as Apple changes the world.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2011/10/06/how-apple-users-honored-steve/feed/4Apple Looking to Hire In-House Video Game Talenthttp://gigaom.com/2009/12/10/apple-looking-to-hire-in-house-video-game-talent/
http://gigaom.com/2009/12/10/apple-looking-to-hire-in-house-video-game-talent/#commentsThu, 10 Dec 2009 15:46:04 +0000http://theappleblog.com/?p=37405Apple’s (s aapl) posted job listings seem to provoke no end of exciting speculation, and one of its latest open calls for applications is certainly no exception. New job postings call for a software engineer for the iPhone Gaming Group, and a video game artist. Last month’s call for a game/media software engineer was somewhat open to interpretation, but this time around, there’s no ambiguity involved.

Not that Apple hasn’t made games in the past, as The iPhone Blog points out. Texas Hold’Em is a game, after all, if not a particularly ambitious one. But that casual game was a one-off, and was probably designed more to get the ball rolling for third-party developers than as a meaningful entry point into the gaming industry for Apple itself.

The new job postings, however, seem to indicate that Apple wants to start taking gaming much more seriously. The skill sets asked for definitely go beyond what’s required to create a simple video poker simulator, at least. From the call for an artist:

The interactive media group is looking for a skilled artist who wants to work as part of a small highly motivated team to work on interactive multimedia experiences on the iPhone and iPod touch. The position on the team is to help design, visualize, enable and implement interface, 3-D characters/environments, animation, texturing as well as original concept artwork.

Requirements also include the “ability to model, animate, texture and produce bump/normal maps for 3-D scene graph environments.” The software engineer position is less obviously game-related, but the description does specifically mention the iPhone Gaming Group, and lists “experience with game development” as an asset:

Please join us in taking the revolutionary iPhone to the next level. The iPhone Games Group is looking for a proactive, highly motivated engineer with 5+ years experience, to share their expertise in application and framework development…You will be responsible for implementing new features in existing applications as well as developing complex applications from top to bottom (user interface design to design and implementation of supporting frameworks.)

Two job calls does not exactly a gaming studio make, but it shows that Apple is thinking about that area. And how could it not, really? It’s been pushing the iPod touch as a gaming device, and witnessed first-hand the success of games on both it and the iPhone, so it knows that’s a space where money can be made. I still believe the primary purpose of any software effort on Apple’s part is selling hardware, so I’d expect to see new games from the company to make especially good use of the newer hardware and software features of the iPhone and iPod touch, including peer-to-peer networking.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2009/12/10/apple-looking-to-hire-in-house-video-game-talent/feed/2Rumor Has It: iTunes LP Authoring and Submission Coming to iDVDhttp://gigaom.com/2009/12/02/rumor-has-it-itunes-lp-authoring-and-submission-coming-to-idvd/
http://gigaom.com/2009/12/02/rumor-has-it-itunes-lp-authoring-and-submission-coming-to-idvd/#commentsWed, 02 Dec 2009 16:32:11 +0000http://theappleblog.com/?p=36941When Apple (s aapl) revealed its documents and templates detailing the process of creating iTunes LP and Extras for small studios and indie artists to take advantage of, it also noted that for the time being, submission would be manual, but that automated electronic submission was on its way. A new report suggests the vehicle of delivery for that submission could be none other than Apple’s own iDVD media authoring program, part of the iLife suite.

The new ability would be part of a major update to the program, which in turn would be one of a series of updates planned across the iLife catalog for the 2010 version of the software bundle. iDVD hasn’t had a significant refresh in quite a while, and honestly, even the title of the application shows its age. Perhaps a rename will be in order as it transitions to a means of digital publication.

We’ve been informed that Apple plans to completely redo their iDVD application (in addition to others in iLife 2010), and besides iDVD not being refreshed in a pretty long time, one of the reasons appears to be the inclusion of iTunes LP creation. This will allow artists (indie and major) to create a custom iTunes LP and submit it directly to Apple right from the new application that will be a part of iLife 2010.

BGR goes on to say that the rumor, while unconfirmed, comes from an industry source that has been fairly reliable in past instances, though it doesn’t cite any specific examples. The Report itself has a fairly good track record regarding Apple-related rumors, and this one in particular isn’t that far-fetched or hard to believe.

There’s still no word on a time line for the release of iLife ’10, but if past practice is any indication, pricing for an upgrade for existing ’09 users will be somewhere around the $79 mark — which is not a very high barrier of entry for access to iTunes LP authoring and creation tools, meaning that anyone who can get their music in the iTunes Store should be able to create enhanced content. It’s a win-win, since Apple gets to flesh out its enhanced content library, and artists get to expand their oeuvre and provide more incentive to paying customers.

No word yet on whether iTunes Extras authoring and submission will also be included. Considering that iDVD was designed at least partially with home movie DVD enhancement in mind, I’d say there’s a very strong possibility we’ll see Extras support, too.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2009/12/02/rumor-has-it-itunes-lp-authoring-and-submission-coming-to-idvd/feed/8Apple Opens Doors to iTunes LP for Indie Labels and Artistshttp://gigaom.com/2009/11/26/apple-opens-doors-to-itunes-lp-for-indie-labels-and-artists/
http://gigaom.com/2009/11/26/apple-opens-doors-to-itunes-lp-for-indie-labels-and-artists/#commentsFri, 27 Nov 2009 04:03:49 +0000http://theappleblog.com/?p=36446Apple (s aapl) said it was going to allow independent content producers open access to the tech and process behind iTunes LP and iTunes Extras, and it has done good on that promise, as TUAW reports. Today Apple has created a dedicated page on its website that offers devs interested in the format “everything you need to know to create a rich, interactive experience around your music and movies. All right in iTunes.”

For those who may have missed it, Apple introduced the iTunes LP and iTunes Extras rich media formats for albums and movies when it released the latest major update to iTunes, version 9. Both LP for music, and Extras for movies, package extra content with a customer’s purchase, including videos, behind-the-scenes info, commentary and more.

There was some speculation shortly after the launch that Apple was purposely keeping the enhanced formats closed, and letting only major labels in on the party, in exchange for a $10,000 per album/movie admission charge. Apple denied the allegations, and it turns out it wasn’t lying.

Anyone who wants to can now head over to Apple’s site and check out three documents that should help even well-motivated amateurs work their way through the creation of the new value-add formats. There’s a template for both, and also a template how-to document that provides step-by-step instructions about how to create your LP or Extras.

For now, each and every artist and label that wants to create either an LP or an Extra for their album or movie will have to go through a manual submission process. And that’s only if you’re able to submit at all. The submission process is currently limited, with Apple directing people to contact their label or studio reps to see if they have access. Apple intends to have automated, electronic submission in place in the first quarter of 2010, but until then, most people will probably be stuck creating without any real hope of publishing.